If You Missed Yemen Blues…You Really Missed Something

Tonight's (Thursday, March 10) Boston Jewish Music Festival concert, Yemen Blues, was a true gem. If you missed it, you missed a major force in Jewish and world music. By the end of the evening, people were dancing in the aisles of ther Somerville Theater. The energy, the musicianship, the excite...

Tonight’s (Thursday, March 10) Boston Jewish Music Festival concert, Yemen Blues, was a true gem. If you missed it, you missed a major force in Jewish and world music. By the end of the evening, people were dancing in the aisles of ther Somerville Theater. The energy, the musicianship, the excitement was palpable. This unique fusion of Yemenite music with blues and rock and general Middle Eastern funk was both traditional and contemporary, an expert mix of ancient and modern. (How many Yemenite groups have a trombone and trumpet). Lead man Ravid Kahalani makes you want to jump and shout. It was an absolutely infectious performance.

That’s what’s been happening all week at the BJMF. And this Saturday night, at the Berklee Performance Center, the next concert installment will feature a truly compelling and different concert: imagine jazz with cantorial music and niggunim, imagine some of the finest musicians anywhere improvising together using folk song and traditional themes. Imagine your spirit soaring.

So maybe you missed Yemen Blues, which will be one of the most talked about concerts of the year. THEN, don’t miss Saturday night, 8 PM at the Berklee Performance Center, for DIVINE SPARKS. Tickets still available at: http://bostonjewishmusicfestival.org/events-tickets/. It’ll be the best thing you do for the weekend, and probably longer.

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Jim Ball is the director of communications at the Jewish Arts Collaborative. He grew up in New York and New Jersey (exit 13), majored in music education in college, moved to Boston in 1971, worked odd jobs and did journalism, landed a job at the Harvard News Office, moved into PR work in state government for Boston City Council, did a stint as press secretary for the MBTA and then the dreaded private sector. All along, he kept up his love and involvement with music. He had an idea for a Jewish music festival, met Joey Baron and the rest, as they say….